From Nuremberg to Munich

In previous posts I apologize, I say I am sorry I could not post, I was sick or there was no internet. I know, oh but I know that you don’t read this, so why do I bother. I write my day down on paper and I see that you are busy and you do not read it. I was told I should write a blog. We will read it, they said, and yet, nothing. I am not offended or hurt, who wants to read the unedited ramblings of a young woman on her travels? Stories told on paper are different, are harder, so now, I write for myself. If these letters on paper bore you, you took too long, now they are for me.

On Tuesday we woke up early enough to make sure all of our belongings were packed up and could still have time for breakfast. Ali and I had been half joking about taking some of the bread with us for the train. I decided at the last minute that I didn’t want to bother, but Ali took a couple of pieces and wrapped them in napkins then slyly slipped them into her bag.

(Entering the castle grounds)

After placing our luggage safely in the storage room, we proceeded to explore the castle that our hostel was a part of, but the part that we had not yet ventured into. We could only see the outside of it without paying, but, although castles can be really interesting, we decided not to pay to enter it. Perhaps there would be other opportunities for seeing more magnificent castles or areas. I have been in so many tour groups and on so many guided tours at this point that I tend to shy away from them unless they come highly recommended. Some guided tours can be really good, or the place the guided tours take you can be very interesting, but I didn’t think that in a castle such as this that it would be interesting enough to be worth my money.

(The edge of our castle building from another area of the castle)

(The castle had some interesting buildings inside the grounds, I think that middle one was a well)

(The castle had a good view… of rooftops)

We had talked about taking our luggage down the hill with us after exploring the castle, even though we had a little bit of time to kill, so that we wouldn’t have to climb back up the hill. In the end we decided to climb back up the hill, which I was glad about because my luggage becomes very heavy after carrying it for some time, especially since I have Ali’s laptop in addition to my own in my backpack are resting on my shoulders.

(More pictures of the castle)

(The castle had a tower. At night a Christmas tree would light up in front of the already illuminated tower).

Instead of going straight back to the Christmas markets where we had spent the last few days, we spent some time wandering in some streets that did not have the markets. Since I still wasn’t feeling particularly well, I was not thrilled by the extra walking, but it was nice to see something other than the market fronts and shiny lights.

(Double headed eagles, so common in Russia and Germany)

During our wanderings we happened upon a bakery of sorts. Our quest for peppermint had still not been completed but we found candy canes in this bakery. Unfortunately when I tried one, they turned out to be cherry flavored instead of peppermint. So, the quest continued.

(Leaving the castle grounds)

Around lunch time we headed back to the market to buy something to eat before we headed up the hill to get our luggage so we could catch our train. This was the first train we would get on where we would use our Eurail passes which looked like useless pieces of paper that actually cost about $500 each. We weren’t sure exactly how they would work because people online suggested different methods in terms of their use, but our plan was basically to get on the train, pull out the pass when it was needed and write in the correct information.

(Looking back at the castle)

Walking from the hostel on the top of a hill down to the train station was probably a 20 minute walk, which was not fun with all of my luggage and not feeling well on top of that. On the way to the train station, Kenzy and I bought some candied nuts again to eat on the train, Ali doesn’t like nuts, but she was happy with her bread. From all of the selections of candied nuts in the Christmas Market, I had only tried the vanilla almonds, but I liked them enough that I figured I did not need to try another kind.

(A pretty side street spotted on the way down the hill)

This train ride was only supposed to take an hour leaving at 12:45 and arriving at two-ish because it was a high speed train. However it ran at least 40 minutes late so we arrived later than we had planned to. It did not spoil our travel plans that we arrived later than intended because our plan in each city has been to just take each day as it comes. We are traveling for over a month and two of us already experienced being under the weather on this trip, so it is better to take it slowly and enjoy as much as we can within reason. It would really ruin our plans, however, if one of us became too sick to leave their bed.

(I probably forgot to mention we visited another church. It was large and beautiful of course).

When we arrived at the train station in Munich, it took us a while to find out where to go because of the different information desks for different purposes. When we finally found out, it was at least an hour later. We took two trams to get to our hostel. The actual trip from the train station to our hostel did not take an excessive amount of time because trams move rather quickly from place to place, but it seemed like forever because we were all carrying our luggage.

(What can I say, I really like the high ceilings)

When we got to the area of the hostel, it was not hard to find because it was a huge building with international flags painted in circles on the front of it. The outside of the hostel was very nicely painted and the reception area did not seem too bad either. However, when we got to the halls that the rooms were located off of, it was not as well presented, but it was clean enough and we could sleep there, which is what counts.

(Stained glass and the high ceilings. This church was interesting because inside it had small posters that told how the church was almost completely destroyed during World War II, but members continued to go to services even when it was in ruins and over time the church was slowly rebuilt, but regardless, members still went. That’s faith).

After checking in and finding that they had the most ridiculous system to unlock the door. It took us at least fifteen minutes to unlock the door, by which time Kenzy had already headed back down to the front desk to ask for another demonstration on how to unlock the door. I had unlocked the door accidentally after fiddling with it for a while.

(Christmas decorations in the church)

When we finally got inside, we had a room with four beds, so because our group is only three people we wondered if they would room another random person with us.

(I tried to take a picture of the front of the church, but it was too tall).

For the rest of the day (because it was pretty late by this time) we planned sort of what we would do the following days we were there. We also ran to a grocery store we had seen on our way to the hostel because we were in the city around the time of a major holiday and didn’t know when stores would be open.

(Time to move on to the next city)

Other than that, the day was drawing to a close and Christmas was almost upon us. No other person showed up to take the empty bed that night, but we still had a few nights ahead of us.